ABSTRACT
Over the ages, some persons or group of persons are known to misuse power to bully their subjects or subordinates. This unwholesome act gives rise to many literary works condemning the act. This work considers the misuse of power as portrayed by the novels Anthills of the Savannah and purple Hibiscus by Chinua Achebe and Chimmamanda Adichie respectively. Achebe in his novel shows the danger of pursuing power for power’s sake and also the impact of a dictator on a populace – the people of Kangan only suffer from Sam’s leadership. He represents the archetypal corrupted Nigerian leaders. Eugene Achike in purple Hibiscus is another character who abuses his patriarchal power over his family. Eugene is both a religious zealot and a violent figure in the Achike household, subjecting his wife Beatrice, Kambili and her brother Jaja to beatings and psychological cruelty. This work therefore condemns in strong terms the brutality and disregard for human existence that exist in our contemporary society. People placed in authority must exercise their powers in accordance with the societal norms. There must be mutual respect and understanding in the families for a stable society.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 BACK GROUND OF THE STUDY
According to Webster Comprehensive Dictionary, Literature is “the written work or production of the human mind collectively”.Oguche A.G defines literature as “a written work which deals with the themes of permanent and universal interests characterized by creativeness and grace of expression as poetry, fiction, essay, drama etc” (1). Literature is also viewed as a writing that pre-eminently reflects on and qualifies some aspects of human experiences, illuminating it from the perspective of scientific and intelligent observers.
There are two forms of Literature- written literature and oral literature. This work will dwell essentially on the written form of literature as it considers two literary works: Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe; Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie. The work seeks to trace how the two authors under review portray the misuse of power by people in the society.
According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, Power is the ability to control people or things. Power also means the right or authority of a person or group to do something. Over the ages, some persons or group of persons are known to misuse power to bully their subjects or subordinates. This unwholesome act gives rise to many literary works condemning the act.
Anthills of the Savannah is a 1987 novel by a Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe. It was his fifth novel, first published in the UK 21 years after Achebe’s previous one (A Man of the People in 1966), and was credited with having revived his reputation in Britain. A finalist for the 1987 Booker Prize for Fiction, Anthills of the Savannah has been described as the most important novel to come out of Africa in the 1980’s.
Anthills of the Savannah takes place in the imaginary West African country of Kangan, where a Sandhurst-trained officer, identified only as Sam and known as “His Excellency”, has taken power following a military coup. Achebe describes the political situation through the experiences of three friends: Chris Oriko, the government’s Commissioner for Information; Beatrice Okoh, an official in the Ministry of Finance and girlfriend of Chris; and Ikem Osodi, a newspaper editor critical of the regime. Other characters include Elewa, Ikem’s girlfriend and Major “Samsonite”Ossai, a military official known for stapling hands with a Samsonite stapler. Tensions escalate through the novel, culminating in the assassination of Ikem by the regime, the toppling and death of Sam and finally the murder of Chris. The book ends with a non-traditional naming ceremony for Elewa and Ikem’s month-old daughter, organized by Beatrice.
Themes in Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah
The difficulty of overcoming a system of political unrest is one of the central themes of the novel. Under a rule driven by power as opposed to respect, the people are unable to figure out how to establish a government built upon justice. The citizens in the society depicted have few political rights, but significantly, they retain their sense of community, maintaining hope that someday, despite the seemingly impossibility of the task, things will be better.
The corruptive aspect of power is another theme explored in the book, especially in the character of Sam. Unprepared and inexperienced, Sam becomes a full-fledged evil dictator when he comes to power, illustrating the dangers of blindly pursuing power at the expense of the community.
The importance of storytelling is an important theme because through stories, a civilization retains its sense of history and tradition, providing it an anchor and a guide by which it can direct its future. The tribal elder in the book recognizes that story is more powerful than battle, grounding a society in its identity and in truth.
The important role of women in modern society is a theme clearly addressed by the author. Women are portrayed as the keepers of tradition, and as such maintain a connection with the past, keeping the culture alive and embodying the qualities of moral strength and sensitivity.
Purple Hibiscus is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s first novel. It was first published by Algonquin Books in 2003.Purple Hibiscus is set in postcolonial Nigeria, a country beset by political instability and economic difficulties. The central character is Kambili Achike, aged fifteen for much of the period covered by the book, a member of a wealthy family dominated by her devoutly Catholic father, Eugene.
Eugene is both a religious zealot and a violent figure in the Achike household, subjecting his wife Beatrice, Kambili herself, and her brother Jaja to beatings and psychological cruelty. The story is told through Kambili’s eyes and is essentially about the disintegration of her family unit and her struggle to grow to maturity. A key period is the time Kambili and her brother spend at the house of her father’s sister, Ifeoma, and her three children. This household offers a marked contrast to what Kambili and Jaja are used to.
Though Catholic, it practices a completely different form of Catholicism, making for a happy, liberal place that encourages its members to speak their minds. In this nurturing environment both Kambili and Jaja become more open, more able to voice their own opinions. Importantly, also, while at Aunty Ifeoma’s, Kambili falls in love with a young priest, Father Amadi, which awakens her sense of her own sexuality. Ultimately, a critical mass is reached in terms of the lives of Kambili, Jaja and the existence of their family as it once was. Unable to cope with Eugene’s continual violence, Beatrice poisons him. Jaja takes the blame for the crime and ends up in prison. In the meantime, Aunty Ifeoma and her family go to America to live after she is unfairly dismissed from her job as lecturer at the University of Nigeria.
The novel ends almost three years after these events, on a cautiously optimistic note. Kambili has become a young woman of eighteen, more confident than before, while her brother Jaja is about to be released from prison, hardened but not broken by his experience there. Their mother, Beatrice has deteriorated psychologically to a great degree.